With rapid development of high-tech industries, various electronic devices (e.g. computers, servers, power supply apparatuses, network devices and communication devices) become essential in our lives. As known, the heat-dissipating efficacy of the electronic device influences the operating stability and the use life of the overall system. For increasing the heat-dissipating efficacy of the electronic device, a cooling device is usually installed within the electronic device or the ambient environment in order to cool the electronic device.
Take a communication device for example. If the heat generated by the communication device fails to be quickly dissipated away by a passive heat-dissipating mechanism, the temperature within the communication device is gradually increased. The elevated temperature may deteriorate the performance of the communication device or cause damage of the communication device. For removing the heat, the communication device is usually equipped with a cooling device. Moreover, it is necessary to prevent the external dust or moisture from entering the communication device during operation of the cooling device.
As known, an air-cooled heat exchanger is one of the common cooling devices for guiding the ambient air to cool the electronic components within the electronic device. FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a conventional air-cooled heat exchanger. As shown in FIG. 1, the air-cooled heat exchanger 1 includes a casing 10, a heat-exchanging core 11, a first fan 12 and a second fan 13. The heat-exchanging core 11, the first fan 12 and the second fan 13 are installed within the casing 10. The heat-exchanging core 11 and the casing 10 define an internal circulation path 14 and an external circulation path 15, which are separated from each other. The first fan 12 is disposed in the internal circulation path 14 for driving internal airflow. That is, the first fan 12 is used for inhaling the hot indoor airflow from the electronic component 20 of the electronic device 2 through a first side of the casing 10 along the internal circulation path 14. The second fan 13 is disposed in the external circulation path 15. That is, the second fan 13 is used for inhaling the cool ambient airflow into the external circulation path 15 through a second side of the casing 10. The heat-exchanging core 11 is used for performing heat exchange between the hot indoor airflow and the cool ambient airflow. That is, by the heat-exchanging core 11, the heat of hot indoor airflow is transferred to the surroundings, and the cooled indoor airflow is guided to the electronic component 20 of the electronic device 2. Consequently, the temperature within the electronic device 2 is reduced.
However, as the power required for the electronic device 2 is increased, the air-cooled heat exchanger 1 needs to be scaled up. Under this circumstance, the size of the heat-exchanging core 11 needs to be increased. Since the conventional air-cooled heat exchanger 1 has a single heat-exchanging core 11, the overall length of the internal circulation path and the external circulation path is too long. In this situation, the wind resistance is increased so that the airflow capacity is too low to effectively enhance the heat-dissipating efficacy. Moreover, as the size of the heat-exchanging core 11 is increased, the cost of fabricating the heat-exchanging core 11 is largely increased.